Recently I had my “whiteness” brought to my attention. It was during a recent round of E-mail trash talk, where someone dropped the word “sup.” Wasn’t even me that said it, but next thing I know, I’m reading that such ebonix are expected from me and that my generation is desperately and sadly trying to identify with hip hop.
Well, big shocker here, but I happen to have some thoughts on that. It helps that just this week I was talking about watching “Bastards of the Party” and how throughout high school and even today I took an interest in gangs. In the past year plus that I’ve had this site I’ve talked a bit about hip hop as well. So maybe this mailer isn’t alone with his opinion.
So let me explain something. Yes, I’ve been into hip hop for a long time now. And back in high school, it was pretty much all I listened too. Yes, my jeans sagged a little then. No, I didn’t wear my hat backwards or crooked. I didn’t speak in ebonix, although some slang did come out. Some of my friends were black, and I’m pretty sure they still are. Some lived in less neighborhoods that were, um, less affluent than mine. It wasn’t a conscious decision to go out and be-friend them. I wasn’t the rich kid from the ‘burbs who thought, hey, I need some homies.
This was the early to mid 90’s. I liked well, the music for starters. The beats, and the lyrics. It was also the attitude and the bravado. Being pissed and challenging authority made more sense to me then whining about my life while wearing a flannel and not showering.
Hip hop in the early to mid 90’s wasn’t like it is today. It wasn’t all gangster raps and talk about Versace and diamonds. Sure, there were “gangsta” rappers like Tupac, Snoop and NWA. But the message then wasn’t the same as it is today. And there were more conscious rappers and groups. Boogie Down Productions, Ice Cube, Nas, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Public Enemy meant more to me than Nirvana or Soundgarden. There was Ed OG and The Bulldogs, who released a song “Be a Father to Your Child” right around the time my first niece was born, and I had questions concerning her father. Sorry, the smell of Teen Spirit didn’t reach me.
My generation wasn’t the first to be attracted to “urban” or “black” music. What was Elvis doing listening to blues? What were all those white kids doing at Woodstock listening to Hendricks? Today hip hop has pretty much taken over the world. It’s everywhere. It’s in commercials, every day fashion, movies, even in the color of GM automobiles thanks to Jay-Z Blue.
As for my own “whiteness” well, yes my skin color is white. I’m fine with that, but like hip hop itself, I can cross over. I’ve received my ghetto pass from multiple sources. I’m good to go anywhere, be it in Kansas City all the way to Nairobi. I can have a conversation about lyrics with the biggest hip hop heads you can find, or I can discuss what makes Billy Joel so great. My iPod can go from John Mayer and follow it up with Kanye West, to Sinatra and then Tupac and it’s all me being me. That’s the textbook definition of keeping it real. Recognize bitches.
8 comments:
Yeah... well, hip hop borrowed that rebel attitude from punk rock... which in turn borrowed it from rockabilly... which in turn borrowed it from country... which in turn borrowed it from the blues... (be sure to throw a little early jazz and ragtime in there somewhere as well). So you're late to the party anyway. And there was nothing wrong with the grunge movement... it had its place. Thanks for the class Great Whyte Hipe.
The rebel attitude has always been around. But hip hop was more Malcom X than Sid Vicious.
No, I never said there was anything wrong with grunge. Almost too bad that it vanished faster than you can finish a latte.
Sid Vicious wasn't a punk. He was a poseur thug, and a junkie. Most true punks were more straight edge (Ian MacKaye/Henry Rollins) than users and abusers.
And the last point I'll make on grunge... at least it's remained pure and true in that no hip hop band (to my knowledge) has ever sampled any of this genres ragged beats.
Chuck D and Hank even collaborated a lil' bit in the early 90s...
Check out the Judgement Night soundtrack..and the movie, Mr Piven at his finest.
That's not sampling.. that's pure collaboration (and briliance). I saw that one in the theater when you were still in high school. Even have the entire soundtrack on my iPod. Good stuff.
Then how did you include that Chuck and Hank collaborated in the same comment if it doesn't count?
But you're still wrong, http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-fake-hip-hop-tracks-using-nineties-rock-and-indie-vocal-samples.htm
And FYI, I saw Judgement Night at Movies 10 on 119th. Beyotch.
Saw it in Lawrence... at a theater that at the time was brand new, and now it's a health club.
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